Terasem

Part of a series on Transhumanism

Scripture
The Truths of Terasem
Topics
Transhumanism - Membership - Rituals - Meetings
External Links
Terasem Faith - Terasem Movement - Terasem Central - Truths of Terasem - Terasem Web - Terasem Radio - Terasem on Facebook - Terasem Faith.org

Terasem, which can be translated to Earthseed, is a transreligious movement based on the principles of transhumanism. Martine Rothblatt developed the religion in 2004 and her son, inspiring politician Gabriel Rothblatt, is a pastor for the movement. The transreligion is explained in the online document The Truths of Terasem, writings which get updated every four years. The belief structure is a spiritual take on transhumanism. As a transreligion it affirms that it is both religion and transcends it, with its claim that anyone can be a Terasem Joiner and any other religion(s) they choose to be.

Adherents of Terasem believe that they can upload their mind to the Internet and later on their conscious can be downloaded into a new body after death. Between the period of being dead and being resurrected they believe people enter a state that is equivalent to a deep sleep. According to Terasem joiners, everybody will eventually be able to be resurrected from oblivion, however harmful people may not be chosen to be.

Terasem asserts that we making God right now with our technology, and when the entire Universe is connected and alive, our creation will be equivalent to a monotheistic God.

The goal of Terasem is "joyous immortality", which they plan on doing before the year 2600. There are currently a thousand Terasem joiners.

Topics[]

Transhumanism[]

Terasem is part of the transhumanist movement. It openly advocates for the use of technologies that will accelerate the artificial evolution of the human species. Its most apparent example of this is their association with mind upload projects. Mind uploading in today's terms is essentially recording your personality unto the Internet and having that digital copy of yourself. Sometime later in the future Terasem joiners believe they will be able to even upload their soul, consciousness, or energy into a machine so they later be able to be downloaded into a new body. Terasem joiners also advocate for the alteration of dumb particles to become smart. They believe one day God will be created by technology to suit all the needs and desires of living beings. They believe this God will be a collective consciousness that will spread out through the entire Universe.

Membership[]

To become a member of Terasem, one must fill out an electronic form, attain an event of Terasem either in real life or in cyber space (via Second Life), and make a video pledging their support to the Terasem cause. Then those things must be summitted to a Terasem official and reviewed over. There is no membership fees for joining Terasem, however they do accept donations.

Rituals[]

The Terasem transreligion has rituals which people are encouraged to perform on a somewhat frequent basis. This includes daily Terasem connections, weekly self-reflections, monthly Terasem gatherings, quarterly Terasem holidays, an annuel celebration, and an assembly of all Terasem joiners every leap year.

Meetings[]

Members of Terasem meet at Centers of Critical Consciousness, which can be physical or virtual. Terasem joiners meet in Second Life and Terasem owns property in the game. Topics of discussion largely revolve around transhumanist and other future technologies.